Akron: Jury reaches guilty verdicts in Craigslist teen trial

AKRON -- The jury says it has reached a verdict in the Brogan Rafferty trial.

Just after 5 p.m., the jury found Rafferty guilty on all counts except Count 42, which was ID fraud. Rafferty was facing 70 counts, including aggravated murder.

Court records reflect that he will be sentenced on Monday, Nov. 5.

Rafferty was accused in the slayings of three men lured by phony Craigslist job offers.

Rafferty, 17, told the court he went along only because he feared the triggerman, Richard Beasley, would kill him, too.

"Go with it or die," Rafferty said, when asked if he thought he had any choice in taking part in the murders. He has admitted being there, witnessing the killings, digging the graves, and burying the bodies.

Beasley, 53, goes on trial in January.

The 17-year-old faces life in prison without chance of parole if convicted of aggravated murder in the shooting deaths of three men last year.

Ralph Geiger, Timothy Kern, and David Pauley died in the killings from August through October 2011, while Scott Davis managed to escape.

The victims were all shot execution-style. The jury is considering 70 counts against the Stow teenager, including some for aggravated robbery, kidnapping, and gun specifications in the case.

In court, Rafferty slowly detailed the killings and said repeatedly he feared Beasley might kill him and his family members if he objected.

"I would die and my family would die" is what Rafferty said he believed would happen if he revealed anything to anyone about the murders of the three men in Noble County, Ohio, in the summer and fall of 2011.